Yellowstone corkscrew bridge - photos

[techcollect]

Am I reading that correct? Is "1698" the date???

Seems like it would have been nearly as simple just to go straight down the slope right there.

The number '1698' is not for the date, January 6 1898, the way we might write it now.
It is a catalog reference number for the photo.
Since photography and multiple copies were so expensive then, the number and title would have been in the reference book for both the Park Service and Department of Interior and likely Library of Congress among other locations.

I don't know the original size of this but many of these photos were/are very large, like 20" by 30", so they had to be stored and handled carefully.

As far as the road in the pass, it's up in the 8000- 9000 foot elevation and at a very, very steep grade.
Going straight down was probably simpler; the stopping/braking and steering a wagon would have been the issue with any, up or down.
There is also the livestock problem. A horse or mule singly or in teams couldn't have made that grade safely if at all pulling a loaded wagon.
It appears from the photo the loop reduced the effort possibly as much as 3 fold. A guesstimate, yes.
Any civil engineers to elaborate on the picture?